Life as the play-by-play voice of the Prince George Spruce Kings took a heavy toll on Ron Gallo.
Providing the connection for fans of the team who listened to his broadcasts from road destinations in the B.C. Hockey League, Gallo loved the job, but it didn't love his waistline.
After seven years of being away from home during hockey season, all those restaurant meals and downtime waiting for the games sent Gallo searching for a new wardrobe.
Nearly three years ago he decided he'd had enough of that and went on a fitness kick he's maintained ever since. Consequently, he's lost 80 pounds.
"I was just under 300 pounds by the time I started to realized I needed to do something," said Gallo. "The Spruce Kings organization is a good organization and they look after the players well, and I was eating the same meals that they were eating. Problem is, I'm not on the ice doing the same exercises the players are doing and burning off the same calories when I'm in the press box. I certainly had a sedentary lifestyle and I needed to have that change."
Gallo, who turned 50 in May, is racing solo in Sunday's 28th annual Prince George Integris Iceman. Usually the race combines cross-country skiing, running, skating and swimming, but Gallo won't have the skating leg to worry about because rain the past few days has forced race organizers to cancel the skate on the outdoor oval. But there's still an eight-kilometre ski, 15 km of running and an 800-metre swim between Gallo and the finish line Sunday.
"I wanted to take on the challenge, it's been a bug that's been there for a couple of years," he said.
"It's a certainly a daunting exercise to prepare yourself for something of this magnitude."
It was a walk with his wife Jennifer from their home in the Highland community to Spruceland Mall that convinced Gallo he had to change his lifestyle.
"From where I live that's only about two kilometres away and it was a laboured exercise just to get there, but the realization I needed to do something was that I also had to walk home," said Gallo. "When I look back three years ago and think about it, I consider myself extremely fortunate because there are other people who aren't as lucky as I am. They've had diseases crop up because of their lifestyle. Certainly my dogs are a lot happier because they get to go on more walks and I think I'm happier."
Gallo, who works in sales at P.G. Motors and ran for council in the November election, has served as an Iceman volunteer but has never competed in the race. He's walked the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, completed a few Prince George Road Runners races and the Mad Moose half-marathon off-road race, but this is his first stab at a muiltisport endurance event.
"The Iceman is one of those unique Prince George events," said Gallo. "Where else do you see a triathlon that's geared for winter sports?
"I've had an opportunity to go cross-country skiing, which I hadn't done since high school, and I've been running off and on for the last 2 1/2 years, and I had some hockey background so I wasn't worried about the skating, but the swimming was the one I was scared of the most," he said. "But now, with the skating taken out, it's the 15 km run I'm worried about."
As a solo male athlete, Gallo will be in the first group leaving the start line at Otway Nordic Centre when the Iceman starts Sunday at 10 a.m. About 550 participants are registered. The race ends at the Aquatic Centre. Race packages will be available for pickup today from 5-7 p.m. at the Civic Centre.
